Fathom vs Otter.ai
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Fathom if you want ai notetaker that records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings (Copilot, freemium); choose Otter.ai if you want ai meeting notetaker that transcribes, summarizes, and runs follow-up agents (Assistant, freemium).
| Fathom | Otter.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI notetaker that records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings | AI meeting notetaker that transcribes, summarizes, and runs follow-up agents |
| Type | agent | product-with-agents |
| Autonomy | Copilot | Assistant |
| Pricing | freemium · Free; Premium $20/mo (or $16/mo annual); Team $19/user/mo; Business $34/user/mo | freemium · $8.33/user/mo (Pro, billed annually) |
| Best for | smb, mid-market, consumers | consumers, smb, mid-market, enterprise |
| Deployment | saas, api | saas, api |
| Modalities | voice, text, api | voice, text |
| Models | model-agnostic, proprietary | proprietary, model-agnostic |
| Protocols | mcp, rest-api | rest-api |
| Integrations | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack |
| Capabilities | 5 documented | 4 documented |
Fathom
- +Genuinely usable free-forever tier with unlimited recording and transcription
- +Bot-free capture option as of the 2026 update, alongside the traditional meeting bot
- +Strong CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot, Asana) plus Ask Fathom search, public API, and MCP
- -It assists and drafts rather than acting on its own; not an autonomous agent
- -Most powerful features (CRM field sync, coaching scorecards) sit behind the Business tier
Otter.ai
- +Real-time transcription with speaker recognition across Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, plus summaries with action items
- +AI Chat makes meeting history queryable and can draft follow-ups, reports, and content
- +Free Basic tier and a low-cost Pro plan starting around $8.33/seat/mo billed annually
- -Free and Pro tiers cap monthly transcription minutes (300 free, 1,200 on Pro), with limited file imports
- -Mostly an assistant; the sales and recruiting agents depend on configured workflows and integrations and still need human review
Which should you choose?
Fathom is ai notetaker that records, transcribes, and summarizes your meetings, best for smb, mid-market, consumers. Otter.ai is ai meeting notetaker that transcribes, summarizes, and runs follow-up agents, best for consumers, smb, mid-market, enterprise. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.